Nul-Nul
The Union knew little about the Nul-Nul until a Nul prince joined the United Stars Navy after being voluntarily conscripted by then-Captain Eric Olafson of the USS Tigershark in 5021. The Nul are one of the truly ancient civilizations of the M-0 (Milky Way Galaxy), having been around for at least as long as the Saresii. However, due to their very aggressive nature, the Nul fought many wars among themselves, reducing themselves to stone age conditions numerous times. They were finally united by a strong King who killed all family and pod leaders and prohibited the formation of noble houses of any kind. The Nul ascended twice, the first time about a million years ago only to be punished by the Dark Ones for resisting and fighting them. The Dark Ones, so the Nul legends claim, destroyed all technology and killed every Nul with any scientific knowledge. It took them a long time to rebuild. Due to their size and inability to manipulate small objects without mechanical aides, it took them far longer than other civilizations to build computers and other machinery necessary to conquer space. It did not help that scientists and scholars were held in low regard compared with warriors and fighters (for much of Nul history being a scientist had been a stigma that led to social exclusion). Despite these handicaps, the Nul managed to ascend again only to get involved in a Y’All invasion that destroyed many of their new colonies and decimated their space-fleet. These events and their natural aggressive nature made them distrust and hate all other civilizations. It did not help that the first new civilization they met were the Shiss, equally aggressive and on a similar technological level. The first meeting between the two species immediately escalated into an all out space-battle. The Nul and Shiss have been bitter enemies ever since. They became allies for a very short time during another Y'All invasion but the Shiss used this alliance to betray the Nul and kill thousands of Nul in a well laid trap. This was the last time the Nul participated in any conferences, diplomatic meetings or formed alliances with anyone. The fast growth of the Union was, at first, of no concern to the Nul, but after the Klack joined the Union everything changed. Not only were the Klack another of the Nul-Nuls old enemies, the Klack Empire was Coreward while Union space, up to that time, was exclusively in the Upward Sector. The Klack Empire was connected to the rest of the Union via a relatively narrow strip of space that went right through the Shiss/Nul border area (this region was known as the Klack-Union Passageway). The Nul attacked a Union ship and destroyed it. This act prompted a very strong Union response, every Nul ship and station in or near the Passageway was attacked and destroyed in return. The only reason this did not escalate into war was the last Y’All invasion had just recently ended and the Union was already fighting the Kermac and their Thrall Species in the 4th Intergalactic War. The first time the after the collapse of the First Galactic Council that the Nul participated in a diplomatic conference of any kind was when the 4th Intergalactic War ended and the Big Four were invited to participate. The Nul had no particular opinion on the Kermac surrender or the armistice, but they did sign the Declaration of Free Space along with the others ratifying the Free Space Treaty. No defined borders had been declared between Nul and Union space and not a week goes by without some Nul/Union clash and until 5025 both sides expected the breakout of all out war any day. The Nul had no illusions of winning an all out war against the Union, even if the Kermac decided to take the chance and enter the war as well but they had built up their fleet and their military ever since the 4th Intergalactic War and amassed an impressive fleet able to inflict terrible losses to the Union before final defeat. While the Nul were not exactly on the same technological level and were quite behind in some areas, their ships were massive, heavily armored and excluding Terran Translocator Cannons, their Graviton based arsenal was second to none, and the only non-Union weapon known that could collapse the shields of even the strongest battleship. The Nul have two distinct subspecies, Purple Nul and Gray Nul. The word Nul is pronounced differently for each sub-species and hence the reason the Nul call themselves the Nul–Nul ( pronounced Nuul-Nuhl) while everyone else simply refers to them as the Nul. Purple Nul represent 99.9% of the species while Grays are very rare and somewhat bigger. The Gray Nul are held in high esteem and are often (but not always) considered to be society leaders. The Nul-Nul are ruled by a King under an absolute monarchy, but they do not have a hereditary noble system. Note: In 5025, at the time they joined the Union, the Nul-Nul society officially adopted the term Nul as the name for their culture. Unofficially, many other societies used the short form even before that time (despite nearly all of those societies being aware that Nul made a distinction between the two populations among themselves).Category:Sentient Species Category:Edited by Renaud